WASHINGTON, August 10. /TASS/. A US court will make a ruling on November 6 on the case of Russian national Irek Khamidullin who was found guilty on all charges, including providing material support to terrorists and conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, US Department of Justice said in a statement on Monday.
Khamidullin faces the maximum sentence — life in prison, and the court will make a decision on 6 November 2015, the statement said.
Last Friday, a jury in Richmond, Virginia, found Hamidullin guilty on all charges. Hamidullin was a member of the Taliban movement in Afghanistan and Al-Qaeda terrorist organization. Prosecutors said earlier that they will not seek death penalty for Hamidullin. The jury which included seven men and five men, deliberated for eight hours before finding him guilty on all charges.
Khamidullin was found guilty on all counts, including conspiracy to provide material support to terrorists, providing material support to terrorists, conspiracy and attempt to destroy an aircraft of the Armed Forces of the United States, conspiracy and attempt to kill US officer or employee, conspiracy and attempt to murder a US national, engaging in physical violence with intent to cause serious bodily injury to a US national, conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction and possession and conspiracy to possess a firearm in connection with a crime of violence.
Khamidullin was detained in Afghanistan in November 2009. He was held in a military prison located near the Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. Local media reported that he was detained after being injured in a clash between Islamists and US military.
Defense said that Khamidullin did not shoot at American and Afghan soldiers but acted only as interpreter in a unit of militants from different countries. According to lawyer Robert Wagner, the defendant speaks five foreign languages. Before joining Islamists in Afghanistan, Khamidullin served in the Soviet Armed Forces.
Russian Foreign Ministry’s Commissioner for Human Rights, Democracy and Supremacy of Law Konstantin Dolgov was informed about Khamidullin’s case in March 2014. "According to information received from the American side in the regular course of work, the Russian national was detained by coalition forces in 2009 in the Khost province of Afghanistan. He is suspected of participating in illegal armed groups on the territory of this country," Dolgov said.
However, "there was no official notification from the American side about the arrest of a Russian national." "Attempts of Russia’s embassy in Kabul to make a consular visit to Khamidullin proved unsuccessful. Russian representatives were allowed to visit the air base in Bagram, but they did not have direct contact with the Russian national due to his alleged ‘unwillingness’ to see them," the diplomat said.